January 19, 2006

Tubes, temples and timeliness.

I got evacuated from the tube today: sitting at Bank Station, Lee Maguire turned up, and told me of how he'd just got off a tube that had had smoke pouring into it while stuck in a tunnel. Sure enough, the next thing we hear is a pre-recorded announcement: "Would Inspector Sands please report to the control room", three times in quick succession. "That's code!" says Lee. Really, say I, code? "Yes! For an unidentified emergency," and then we hear the real announcement - emergency evacuation of Bank Station. Off we obediently rush, with lots of panicky-looking Tubegoers who at this point probably don't know it's just a fire.

Spilling out into Bank's tangled crossroads, there are fire engines and ambulances and police already swarming, with more arriving by the second. Time to go comic-book shopping: the bus down the road at the Temple of Mithras goes to close enough to Tottenham Court Road. Lee hadn't seen the Temple before, and while I see it all the time, I had no idea what it actually is. Turns out it's one of those wonderful London artifacts, an Hellenic "mystery-religion" temple in the middle of London, dedicated to Mithras, from whom we get Phrygian caps - the ones the Smurfs wear, which in turn leads us to Smurf Communism. Meanwhile, Lee says, "Mithras? Isn't he a level 30 quest?"

Turns out, he might be. Checking my inbox, I see that today a mini-expansion for Legion Arena called Cult of Mithras is announced. Coincidence or what?

Crikey. Got caught in a tube carriage full of smoke myself once - just outside Shepherds Bush. The cool thing? I GOT TO PULL THE EMERGENCY HANDLE. Repeat - I got to PULL THE EMERGENCY HANDLE, for a real thing in a real situation! D00d! T3h R0XX0R! After that, all fear or perception of danger, frankly, fades into insignificance.

It turned out, it was crud falling off the brake pads and burning; it happens quite a lot. Symptoms - slightly electrical smelling thick black smoke pouring out of the ventilation slits at the back of the seats.

Result - standing on Holland Park platform with about a hundred people staring at me like I just cooked their puppy, because I'd interrupted their commute.

Dark Age of Camelot has a "Tomb of Mithra" accessible in the Camelot Hills zone.

(I always thought that "Camelot Hills" sounded like the name of a cheesy 1970/80s prefab housing development. WELCOME TO CAMELOT HILLS. IF YOU LIVED HERE, YOU'D BE HOME BY NOW. In the game, it really resembles nothing so much as a haunted golf course. This has long given me the urge to make a survival horror golf game.)